Revenge of the Fallen

Chapter eight, part 2

It didn't take long before grandma was taken back to the hospital. Or rather, they accepted her for a long-term observation. And at that moment I needed even more money. I was just glad that I started going to the ring earlier, otherwise we would have gone into debt and that would not have been very nice.

  I was alone again in that terribly empty, quiet apartment, but I didn't spend much time there anyway, sometimes I didn't even sleep at home. When grandma wasn't home to check on, I didn't have a reason to come back at a normal time, so I was just always late enough for a shower and going to bed. What a life I had.

  I didn't plan to come back early today either, because thanks to the darkness, a race was being held on the outskirts of the city and I decided to go there and have some fun. I already had a match yesterday. It seemed to me that I spent almost every week down there, although it was not that often, I think. Or maybe it was. I've been losing myself in time a lot lately.

  I had the day off today, but I wasn't home for almost the whole day anyway, and when I came back, it was only for a while before I went out again, heading to the race venue. For a while I thought about flying on a hoverbike, but in the end I went on foot and by train.

  Not long after leaving the apartment, I found myself in a crowd full of people while I was just walking around and looking at what good things were on offer at the stalls. I was hungry and I wanted to drink something, too.

  "Rayne!"

  Surprised, I looked in the direction from where I heard a familiar voice calling my name. There I saw Chris holding hands with Mia, who gave me a friendly smile, which I tried to return. After I greeted them with a nod, I came closer to them.

  I spent some time with them, but of course I couldn't spend the whole evening with a couple in love. I didn't even want to. Being a third wheel? No thanks. And so I found myself alone again, but I had already eaten and was just walking around the racing tracks like a bunch of other people.

  With my hands in my pockets, I wondered what it must have felt like to be speeding around in one of the racing hovercars on that stretch outside of the city. A night-lit road, part of which we, spectators, could see from the start and which we could see on the screens projecting the race on the walls of the surrounding buildings. It must have been so beautiful out there.

  Looking up from the deep green hovercar with black flames, I saw a pair of eyes looking at me. The girl with the slicked back hair returned my gaze for a moment before lowering her eyes and shyly looking away.

  I grinned as there was no point in pretending she wasn't staring when I already saw her in the action. And so I went to her and stopped when I was standing quite close to her, during which I could not forgive myself not to look at her. The red skirt with a kind of white shirt suited her extremely well.

  "Wanna go for a drink?"

  The unknown girl looked up at me and nodded with a slight smile. Side by side then, we went to the drink stand, where I paid for it, and we moved aside where we started a conversation.

  The race had started after a while and we were watching the hovercars competing for the first place on one of the huge screens. For a moment, I even forgot about my company as I was absorbed in what was going on out there.

  "Ah... hell" came from beside me, to which I looked at the red clad girl with a questioning look. She answered my unspoken question by aiming her dark eyes at the crowd of people, more specifically at a male person who seemed to be looking for someone. "That's my ex."

  Although I wasn't really interested in who it was, with the explanation I immediately understood her reaction. Xia - her name I found out during our conversation, looked around, probably looking for a place to hide from her ex. With a slight chuckle, I grabbed her wrist and headed towards one of the alleys leading to the one where it seemed to be deserted.